


What a time to be alive

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, F/F, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, alex and maria are friends, i will fight for maria reynolds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6639085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria Lewis is having a hard time at school. Her best friend, whom everyone thinks she's dating, is a  temperamental asshole that is always ready for a fight. Her other best friend barely speaks english (yet), and James Reynolds is on a constant path to try to ruin her life. All Maria wants to do is get through high school, and get Alex to go on a date with John Laurens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maria

“This is the most dull subject ever” Maria whispered. 

She was leaning over the aisle trying to get Alex’s attention from his notes. She had taken about two pages of notes. They were succinct and to the point, probably. Alex, on the other hand, had filled almost six pages in the first twenty minutes of class and was getting to his seventh. His notes appeared to more be paragraphs about each slide instead of notes about them.  
“Shut up I’m trying to concentrate” He whispered back angrily. He always got like this during class. No matter what the subject he wanted to be the perfect student. He asked good questions, gave good answers, and was an all around genius. This made every other kid in the class resent him.  
“Oh come on” Maria quipped, “it’s not like you didn’t do the reading on this two days ago, take a second. You’re gonna get carpal tunnel again and then you’re going to be more annoying than you already are.”  
Alex finally looked up. He was trying to look angry, but he could only really pull of minor annoyance. She was right of course, as she usually was, he had done the reading two days ago and already knew everything about “Keynesian economics”. He put down his pen and stretched out his aching hands. Maria looked down for a second with a sly smile. She turned again to make a witty comment (which was going to have been hilarious by the way), but before she could she heard a voice from the front of the room.

“Ms. Lewis, Mr. Hamilton, I don't suppose you would like to share with the class what you were discussing.” Mr. Adams said. 

“They were probably just talking about their date or something.” James said smiling. Some kids in the class whistled and others whispered to themselves about the “notorious affair”. 

Maria reflexively put her arm out to stop Alex from jumping out and starting an all out brawl in the middle of class. Alex was fuming, he always got like this whenever James opened his stupid mouth.

“Hey maybe you should talk about things you actually know shit about, oh wait, I forgot you were a dumb piece of trash who couldn’t get anything in his head.”

Oh no. Maria inwardly cringed, Alex had just made everything five times worse than they already were and they were all probably going to the principal's office now.  
“What did you just say to me?” James said in a tone that would have made any sane person cower in fear. This tone just made Alex, the pain loving hot blooded idiot that he is, more fired up.  
“I said you were stupid what are you going to do about it?” Alex said.

There was silence for a moment, Maria watched waiting for James to respond. She knew he would find the perfect thing to say that would throw Alex off the edge. He may have been an idiot, but he knew exactly how to push Alex’s buttons, as did just about every other asshole in the school. James smiled devilishly wide. He had found the perfect thing to say. Maria could already guessed what it was going to be about.  
“Wow I never knew you would defend such a whore so fast” He said.  
That was the straw that broke the camel's back, Alex made almost a predatory growl and went to lunge at James. Luckily, Maria was standing at this point and had the sense to grab him by his hoodie to keep him from physical danger, James was twice his size and was on the wrestling team for god’s sake.

“That’s enough!” Adams yelled. “Go to the principal’s office all of you, and please, try not to kill each other on your way there.” They all nodded. 

Maria pulled Alex out the door, keeping a firm grip on the hood of his jacket so he couldn’t try to lunge at James again the moment they got into the hallway. Alex was visibly steaming, his face had gone a deep red and his features were hard, Maria was angry too, but she had spent years hiding her emotions very skillfully. It took an awful lot for her to yell or scream, but she could promise that somehow she was going to ruin James' day in any way that she could.  
James was sauntering ahead of them looking very pleased with himself. Maria knew that he was just doing this to get a reaction from Alex, which wasn’t hard, but he had always tried to get a reaction from her too. She never gave in of course, she was far to good at masking emotions that she never broke under pressure. Well except once, but that was an time she didn’t like thinking about.  
The office was a drab, beige painted, square in the center of the school. There was a receptionist, who didn't seem to pay them much mind, and three chairs. James turned into the office and took a seat in one of the nearby chairs. He put his feet up on the other two making it impossible for Maria or Alex to sit down. This made Alex, once again, try to lunge at James. Thankfully, Maria was also, once again, expecting this and tightened her grip on his hoodie.  
“Stop trying Alex you’re just giving him more fuel to throw at you.” She said, while holding Alex back like a dog walker holds back an violent corgi.  
Alex looked at Maria defiantly, she gave him a tired look back. She didn’t need him to fight for her, no matter what he thought. Finally, Alex got the message Maria had been trying to send this whole time, chill. He was still angry, but hopefully not homicidal. 

“Aww” James said in a sarcastic tone “ Has she really got you that whipped?” That relit the fire in Alex fire immediately causing him to start to run at James.  
“Excuse me.” Someone behind them said. “Do any of you know where G119 is?” 

Alex and Maria turned around. He was a tall boy with curly hair and freckles all over his face and hands. He had soft welcoming eyes which seemed to automatically make Alex calm down. Maria looked over at Alex, who had his mouth open in a look of awe on his face. He looked as if an angel had just walked into the room. Maria smiled. Alex was a very feelings oriented human being, this meant that whenever he fell, he fell hard and after everything the kid had been through he deserved someone who loved him. Something about her had always reminded him of a kicked beagle who needed constant love and attention, but had been hurt so many times that whenever someone came near it, it growled  
. Maria decided right then and there she would do her best to get these two together if it killed her. First order of business, learn the new kids name.  
“We do!” Maria said dragging a still awe struck Alex by the arm. “I think Laf’s in that class right Alex.” She looked at Alex who had been shaken out of his stupor at the mention of his name.  
“What, oh yeah, totally.” He said still trying to find his bearings.  
“Oh great” the new kid said. “I guess I’ll have someone to talk to. I’m John by the way.”  
Maria smiled, John, step one complete. She took John and Alex’s arms and hurried out of the office before an administrator could come out and reprimand them, or before James said anything stupid to ruin Alex’s chances.  
“I’m not sure about someone to talk to.” Alex said. “He’s an exchange student from France. He’s a fast learner, but he hasn’t really gotten comfortable with the language yet.”  
“Wait a second.” John said, he stopped walking and looked at them.” I thought that I was going to a french class.” He looked at them confusedly.  
“You are” They both said in unison. John began to ask the question of why a native french speaker with little to no english was in a french 3 class when Alex shrugged his shoulders and said.  
“There was a communication error with the school and they won’t switch him out until he’s done a semester.” This started him on a rant about how messed up the education system was at almost a break neck speed. This was how Alex often talked, quickly and with great vigor, this also made many people never want to talk to Alex because they simply couldn’t keep up. Thankfully this made John smile instead of look confused. When they had finally gotten to the door, Alex had basically filled him in on all the problems the school had. John had even made some interesting comments to add onto Alex’s diatribe.  
John looked at the door. Maria thought that it appeared that both Alex and John had talked so much that they had forgotten their original plan. John turned to Alex.  
“Thank you for showing me the way.” He said as he turned toward the door. He perked his head and turned around again alarmed. “I never got your name!” He said, staring at Alex, but Maria assumed it was directed at both of them.  
“I’m Maria and this is Alex.” She motioned towards Alex who was again, staring intently into John’s eyes. She thought that might be a little weird for John, until she noticed he was doing the same thing. They both looked like they were looking at the greatest, most beautiful thing they had ever seen.  
“Well, we have to go, the office is probably really mad that we left seeing as we were in trouble the last time I checked.” She started pulling Alex away.  
“It was very good meeting you John.” Alex waved and stumbled as Maria dragged him back to the office.  
John stood there waving back smiling. After they had rounded the corner he took a breath, turned the handle, and opened the door.


	2. Peggy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones really short, but I've been super busy with Aps recently and writers block exists so..... here we are.

It was only the fourth class of the day and Maria was exhausted.  
The principal’s office went as well as expected, James managed to get himself out of any trouble and shift all the blame onto Alex and her.They had gotten a week of detention and he had gone away with nothing but a snarky grin on his face.  
Alex had practically been boiling when she left him. He had been so angry that she didn’t even get a chance to talk to him about John.  
Alex’s class was on the other side of the building from her next class, so they parted ways as the late bell rang.  
Maria slipped into her seat, trying not to be noticed. The lights were down in the theatre room and someone was performing a scene on stage. The lights went up and the students returned to their seats. 

“Thank you that was very nice Sam” Mr. Steuben said sounding disinterested. He looked around the room, his eyes focused on Maria.

“And why are you late Maria.” He asked suddenly becoming his usual gravitas again. 

“I was in the office” Maria said, she didn’t feel like she had to elaborate further.

“I assume Mr. Hamilton did something… uncouth again?” He said. Maria nodded unsure of what his reaction would be. There was a pause before Mr. Steuben grinned devilishly, 

“I am sending an email that your detention be served in here with me Maria, I assume that won’t be a problem.” Maria smiled, she knew he was doing her a huge favor by making sure Alex didn’t get into any more fights at detention. 

“Now onto our next presenter, Peggy?” Mr. Steuben looked over at the small teenager. She walked up to the center stage with her notebook and a music stand. Maria leaned on the desk watching her walk up. 

“I’m going to be reading some original poetry today.” She said. Maria smiled, she hadn’t known Peggy for a long time, but she always loved hearing her poetry. Peggy's sisters were interesting enough, Angelica was in debate with Alex. She was much more calculated than Alex, but ready to go off like a bomb at the right time. She was compassionate, kind and even though everyone thought she was stone cold, she was one of the kindest people Maria knew. Eliza was the kindest person Maria knew. She was one of the band kids, but even though they didn’t know each other very well she’d give Maria a breakfast bar when she could tell that she had forgotten to eat breakfast. Like her sister she could fight to, Eliza was one of the smarter people she knew even though she wasn’t as partial to fighting as her sister. 

Then there was Peggy, she was different than anyone Maria had ever met before. She was president of poetry club, and her spoken word sent shivers down Maria’s back. She hung out with the edgy kids, but when you got to know her she was one of the goofiest people you could meet. Maria thought Peggy might be the sharpest of the Schuyler siblings even though not everybody saw it that way.  
She started her poem. Maria was entranced by the lyrical rhythm of Peggy's voice. 

How do you see me?  
The girl with short hair?  
The girl who isn't there?  
I don't think you see me  
not really  
look at me  
and you will see  
a person you never imagined

Maria smiled, she loved how concentrated peggy could become. How her eyes crinkled with determination as she reached the resolution of their poem. 

Everyone started clapping as Peggy walked confidently off stage. She turned slightly catching Maria’s eye and giving her a million dollar smile.  
There were times Maria thought nothing would be alright, she would sit alone and think about how nothing would ever be good for her. There were times when Maria felt hopeless and alone but, whenever Peggy looked at her, for some reason she felt like things were going to look up for once. Whenever Peggy smiled, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she could pull through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where I don't project at all. LEAVE ME COMMENTS, I love them all. Check out my tumblr too because I post quality content 24/7. Send me asks about characters!!! I'm slowly going to add in all of the characters and I have some plans, so I would love asks about them!! Hope you liked it!! <3<3  
> outdunnedoutmanned.tumblr.com


	3. An Altercation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Laf and someone else gets detention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight warning for bullying and slut shaming language

“So what do you want to have for lunch?”  
Alex had come up beside her in the hallway as she was leaving her class. Maria sighed and thought about the question.  
“I don’t know, why don’t you pick”, Maria said, knowing that Alex already had a place in mind for John’s first lunch with him.  
“Well I was thinking we go to the deli, I know Laf likes it, and a certain someone who works there” Alex said excitedly as he winked at her.  
Maria rolled her eyes at the obvious undertones.  
“Fine, but tomorrow i pick”, she knew that wasn’t true, Alex always managed to pick. Alex nodded and tried to stay at her side as she was walking. If Alex had a choice, he would run everywhere, but Maria preferred to walk so he tried to walk for her sake. His hands started to vibrate and he was almost jumping with all the energy he had.  
Maria sighed “Fine, go ahead”, and with that, Alex raced ahead. He expertly dodged the other people in the hallway and made whipped around the corner, his messenger bag flying behind him. Maria rolled her eyes, Alex was maybe one of the most hyper people she had ever known. He could never calm down.  
Laf came up beside her, she nodded at him and he nodded back. That was about all the communication they could manage while not facing each other. Laf didn’t speak very much english and she didn’t speak enough french to speak to him that way. When they were facing each other or not focusing on other things, they could communicate in gestures and facial expressions, and Alex of course.  
Laf turned to her and scrunched his face, trying to find the correct words in his head.  
“We, ugh, go out to lunch?”, he said, hoping he used the words correctly.  
“Yes”. she replied, “we’re going to the deli.”  
Laf’s face brightened “Le Bistro? Ah bien!” Maria smiled, as they rounded the corner.  
They were greeted by Alex and John, Alex chattering like a madman and John listening to him intently. Laf looked over at Maria with a knowing look, she assumed that he had sensed the same thing she had. They walked over together, getting Alex’s attention.  
Laf looked at John and nodded.  
“Hello”, he said in a thick accent, “my name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.” He looked at John expectantly, John stared back at him shocked. He hoped he didn’t have to repeat the entire name.  
Maria rolled her eyes.  
“Just call him Laf, trust me.”  
John breathed out in relief and smiled wide.  
“Hello Laf.”  
Alex laughed at John’s reaction, and started to pull him toward the door.  
“Come on I want to get to the deli before everyone else does.” He dragged John along with him as Maria and Laf followed. Alex continued to babble excitedly as they crossed the street towards the shop. Maria and Laf walked behind silently.  
They reached the Deli and Alex practically ran through the door with John in toe. Laf walked through and smiled when he was that Hercules was working that day.  
“Mon beau!” He said practically draping himself over the counter to kiss Hercules on the cheek. Hercules shook his head, and walked over to Alex to take his order as Laf continued to smile and wave at him whenever he looked his way.  
“Good afternoon Mulligan.” Maria said laughing at Laf’s antics.  
“Are they ugh, dating?” John whispered to Alex. Alex shrugged and turned to Hercules to give him his order.  
After they had gotten their food, they sat down at one of the tables to eat. Laf had stayed at the counter and was very unsubtly flirting at Hercules took orders.  
“Every time”, Maria said, “he does this every time we come in here, it’s a miracle we haven’t been kicked out or something.”  
Alex shrugged again, “I mean didn’t you notice that he always gives us a discount on our food when Laf is here”, he nudged John, “think it might be a sign?”  
“I don’t know, it might be a ‘sorry for having to deal with this weird french kid all day discount’” Maria replied snarkily.  
Alex huffed and started to talk about his day to John. Maria tried to pay attention, but Alex’s account of his day was not as interesting as he thought it was. She half listened as she catalogued the rest of the day in her head, only interrupting when Alex obviously changed parts of the story about how they had landed in the office.  
“So that’s why we were in the office.” He said triumphantly.  
“You didn’t win the fight Alex, you tried to attack someone three times your size and I held you back”, she looked at John for a second with an exasperated look,”like a true friend.”  
John smiled and giggled a little bit at Alex’s embarrassed face.  
He waited a few seconds before starting his story again with the revised set of events now included, John listening intently. Maria was amazed at how good John was at listening to Alex. Even the best often couldn’t keep up with Alex’s speeches, but John was always so enveloped when Alex said a word, and to Maria’s surprise, Alex listened to anything John said as if it was scripture.  
Maria looked over to where Laf was still lying on the counter in front of Hercules. Since the first day they had taken Laf to the deli he had been completely enthralled with Hercules. Hercules was the same age as them , but had dropped out and started working at a costume shop down the road. His aunt owned the deli and during the school year he worked there part time as well.  
Herc was now smiling at Laf as he tried to wipe down the counter Laf was lying on. Maria had no idea what their relationship was and she honestly didn’t need to know all that much. She finished her food and went threw away the garbage, as the others got ready to walk back. Laf got up from the counter, and blew Herc a kiss as he walked out the door. Hercules, once again, shook his head and smiled as they left.  
John and Alex walked almost inhumanly close together as they walked back to school and Maria trailed in the back watching everything and letting herself be alone for a second. That’s when she felt and arm go over her shoulders and pull her close.  
“Well, well, if it isn’t little Mariah”, she gritted her teeth as James grabbed her shoulder.  
“What do you want asshole”, she said curtly trying to pull away from his grasp.  
Alex had stopped and turned around, his hands clenching into fists and the sight of James. Laf had also stepped a little bit closer to Maria in case he needed to pull her away from James if Alex were to run at him.  
“I just wanted to talk sweetheart, just checking in on you and your boyfriend”, he spat out the word boyfriend like it was poison. He knew that, to Maria, it was.  
Alex stepped forward, “Hey maybe watch you mouth Reynolds”, he said through gritted teeth.  
James laughed he knew he could take Alex in a fight any day of the week.  
“Yeah, or what, you’ll get suspended if you try to touch me again”, Maria knew what was coming next, she knew that he was going to provoke Alex and this time she couldn’t stop it.  
“If you want her so much here”, James pushed Maria forward, she stumbled and almost fell, but Laf caught her and pulled her away from James.  
“You can keep your skank girlfriend, I don’t even want her anymore.” Maria winced and looked at Alex who was just about seething. To his credit he didn’t move, but about a second later Maria heard the sound of a punch being thrown and someone falling to the ground.  
She turned to see John standing above James with the same amount of anger, maybe more, than Alex had.  
James looked shocked as John turned and walked back towards the others. He took Alex’s arm and started pulling him towards the school.  
“Let’s go.” He said gruffly as he started walking back to the school still dragging Alex away. Maria started to walk to Laf still holding onto her protectively, she shrugged off his hands not needing him there. She knew that despite John’s valiance, that punch could only signify bad things to come.  
Maybe at least John would get detention that day too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, sorry it's been so long since I've written. School killed me a little bit.  
> Message me on tumblr, I'm very lonely and want attention.  
> Hope you like Laf, I've pretty much based him on a mix of French exchange students I've housed. There will probably be more French, but I don't have the brain for translating today.  
> Next Time: Detention,, Jefferson, and Hopefully more awkward teenagers!
> 
> Tumblr: sufjeringstevens


	4. Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detention and some insight into Maria's past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY I HAVENT POSTED!!!! It's because I was writing this and I didn't think I knew how to finish it. I also got distracted by school and traveling, but I'll try to keep updates on this not insanely long like the last time. As always I love comments. This chapter gets into some of the backstory (ooooooooh I planned things for once), but theres still a lot more! I'm sorry this is so short, I opened my google docs today and saw this unfinished and remembered all of the projects I haven't finished and I convinced myself to try and get out a chapter.

“I see we have a new arrival.” Von Steuben looked up John up and down with a critical eye.  
John shifted uncomfortably under the attention, but quickly straightened his posture as not to seem frightened. At seeing this, Von Steuben smiled wide and started watching the other students in the room.  
There were a few others that had received detention that day, there were the ones that were there most days day, like Alex, and there were some that were only there occasionally.  
The doors of the classroom burst open and a gush of air rushed through the classroom, along with the strong smell of cologne.  
Maria put her head in her hands, of course Thomas Jefferson would get detention the same day as the rest of them. Alex cringed and subconsciously moved closer to John.  
Thomas Jefferson was Alex’s ‘greatest foe’, along with his twelve million other ‘greatest foes’. This immense hatred only ever seemed to get him in more trouble.  
“I’m here,” Thomas said to no one in particular.  
“Nobody cares,” Alex responded nonchalantly.  
Thomas looked at Alex for a second before turning and dropping into a desk next to Maria.  
“What did you do this time Alex, challenge the entire wrestling team to a duel?” Alex jumped up, looking as if he was about to rip Thomas’ head off.  
“That was one time!” Alex yelled, Maria started hitting her head against the desk.  
Thomas got up and stood in front of Alex, Who had to look up to maintain eye contact.  
“Do not test me, little man.”  
“Is that a threat?” The entire room was silent around them.  
Suddenly, the bell rang.  
“Okay guys, sit down detention is starting,” Von Steuben said separating the two of them.  
Alex and Thomas glared at each other as they walked across the room, Alex sitting next to John and Thomas sitting next to Maria.

 

….

 

Detention was uneventful. Thomas balled up pieces of paper and threw them at Alex until John looked at him with a gaze that could kill twenty men. Thomas stopped after that.

 

After detention Maria walked with Alex to his house. John had followed them saying that he had told his parents that he was staying there and hadn’t told them about detention.  
They walked through the door, Laf was lounging on the couch. He was watching some french news channel, his eyebrows furrowed in concern at whatever the newscaster was saying.  
John looked confused.  
“I didn’t know Laf lived with you.”  
“Yeah,” Alex said, “My foster family knows his grandmother.”  
John nodded at the new information. Maria walked through the door and dropped onto the couch next to Laf.  
“How are you today Laf out loud?” Maria asked.  
“Uh ze news en france is concerning,” Maria nodded. She looked at the tv trying to understand the words across the bottom, but eventually gave up.  
Alex sat down next to them and took a notebook out of his backpack. He started scribbling on a random page muttering about an essay due next month. Maria rolled her eyes and looked up to see john, standing awkwardly in the corner.  
“Do you wanna sit?” she asked. He looked unsure for a second, but eventually nodded and sat down next to Alex who unconsciously leaned on him. Maria chuckled at the domesticity they already had after one day of knowing each other.  
They all sat there for an hour or so not really talking, just existing in the same room. Eventually John’s phone rang and he frantically stood up and muttered something about his dad being there before slinking outside to the car that had parked in the driveway. Alex furrowed his brow, but said nothing but a small goodbye. He sighed looking sad for a moment and went back to his writing.  
Maria felt bad for him. She went back to looking at her phone. She wasn’t really reading the article she had clicked on, but instead let her mind drift to the events of the day. Would James ever leave her alone? She didn’t know why he followed her around like he did, only that he got some weird joy in making her life miserable. She thought back to freshman year, what hd happened since then? Since she was bright eyed and happy? Since she had more than three people who talked to her? She missed it, but she knew it wasn’t as good as she remembered it being. She was still lonely and unhappy, she had just had James popularity to keep people from pulling away from her. Once her relationship with James had gone sour, the floor had fallen out from under her. Alex had been there to pick up the pieces, but he was never good at putting things back together once he had broken them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to clarify that Alex never dated Maria in this. It kind of seems that way from the end of this, but they're freinds. If you want to ask me about this story send me an ask on my tumblr, sufjeringstevens. Also I love it when people portray Ham as kind of a jerk (because he a little bit was in real life) that's just like a thing I like. 
> 
> Tumblr: sufjeringstevens


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just some random writing I was doing, it might not make sense because it's kinda late and I'm tired.

“Do you like him?”  
They were sitting in Alex’s room. He had been hanging off his bed upside down looking at Maria who lying on the floor in front of him.  
“I don’t know” He said, “I think so”  
“Alex,” Laf said from across the room, “Je ne veux pas tu rouler une pelle prochaine moi.  
“Oh, ferme la bouche!”  
“Je desole.”  
Maria rolled her eyes, she couldn’t follow the conversation, but she got the idea from the face Alex was making.  
“You should ask him out, he likes you.” Maria said, looking down at her phone. She checked the time, her mother wouldn’t be home till late so she had some time before she had to walk home. Alex shrugged, which dislodged him from the bed and he toppled onto the floor almost hitting Maria. Laf chuckled and Alex glared at him.  
“Are you guys alright?” Mr. Washington yelled up the stairs alarmed by the noise.  
Alex groaned from the floor, Maria was unsure if it was because he had hurt himself or if he was just being dramatic.  
They heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The door opened and Mr. Washington walked into the room. He took in the tableau of the room and raised an eyebrow.  
“Shouldn’t you be home soon Maria?” He asked  
She shrugged, she probably didn’t have to be home for an hour or so. It was better to be in the Washington’s nice fancy house instead of her tiny apartment that would probably be empty when she got back.  
“It’s dark Maria, I’m not letting you walk home.” He said  
She rolled her eyes.  
“I’ll be fine Mr. Washington, I do it all the time.”  
“Maria it’s ten blocks to your house, I’m not letting you walk home in the dark, in winter.”  
“I have a coat,” she protested.  
Washington looked at her with a fatherly glare and she stopped her protests.  
“You can stay here tonight, there’s a spare room you can stay in. And I don’t want you walking home at 11 at night any more.” He said before leaving the room without further comment.  
She looked over at Alex, she thought about sneaking out the window to and just walk alone, but she didn’t want to annoy Washington by ignoring his kind gesture. She didn’t particularly want to go home either, so she decided she might as well stay.  
“We should go to bed then,” Alex said “we have the debate tomorrow in class and I want to destroy Jefferson.”  
“Of course you do.” Maria said.  
Maria looked at Laf, who had been trying in vain to read his Biology textbook.  
“Night laf.” She said.  
“Goodnight Marie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to be as accurate with the french as I could. This meant I spent like an hour looking up french slang. Also we should all join the be nice to maria club.
> 
> Je ne veux pas tu rouler une pelle prochaine moi.- I don't want you making out in front of me.
> 
> Oh, ferme la bouche!- Oh shut up!
> 
> Je desole- sorry
> 
> Be sure to check out my tumblr.  
> tumblr: sufjeringstevens


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally decided to sit down and work on this a little bit. I've been so busy with school that I just haven't had the time to work on this. Also if anyone wants to start betaing this fic I would love that.

Morning at the Washington’s house house was always odd. THere was a peculiar bustling, but almost no talking. Everyone was running around each other trying to organize for the day, wordlessly handing each other things they needed. Maria always felt like she was interrupting this balance. She quietly sat at the table drinking a cup of tea and watching the pandemonium take place. She watched as Mr. Washington poured coffee, handed it to alex, who handed it to Laf, who handed it to Mrs. Washington. She thought it looked like a ford assembly line videos she had watched in history one day. Almost as soon as everyone had sat down, they were up again grabbing all of their things so they could leave for work and school. Alex suddenly came up behind her pushing her out if her seat, through the door, and into the car.   
Once they had gotten to school, Alex tried to rush Maria to first period.   
“She this is why I hate staying at your house! All of you go at a breakneck speed!” She said, stopping and facing him in the hallway.   
“I want to get to class early so I can ask the teacher a question.” He answered, as he tried to turn her around and push her to class. Instead she collided with someone coming the opposite way, that someone just happened to be Alex’s ex girlfriend.   
“Hey watch where you're going.” Someone above her said. Maria looked up to see Angelica Schuyler looking down at her with annoyance.   
“Sorry.” She muttered as she got up, she held her hand out to Eliza who was dusting herself off on the ground. Eliza took her hand and smiled warmly, with all the rumors spreading about Alex and Maria, she had always been surprised at Eliza’s kindness. If Maria were in her position she didn’t think she could be as kind as Eliza had always been to her.  
“It’s okay, you didn’t see me.” She said, Angelica huffed behind her and Eliza glared at her sister.   
Eliza’s books were still sprawled across the floor and Maria went to pick them up, it was only then that she heard the chuckling. She looked up to see Peggy trying to suppress her laughter. She looked down quickly in an attempt to hide the warmth that was growing in her cheeks. She collected her books and turned to Alex, who was currently trying to make himself small in front of the three girls.  
“Hello Eliza”, he muttered.  
All of the warmth that Eliza had given to Maria suddenly left her as she focused on Alex.  
“Alexander”, she said coldly “next time watch before you push people.” He nodded hurriedly, looking more than a little bit scared of her. She looked at Maria and the warmth returned, she smiled at her.   
“See you around Maria.” And with that she whisked down the hallway, Angelica followed next, staring daggers at Alexander who was looking down at his shoes. Peggy passed her with a smirk on her face. Maria watched her walk down the hallway, the three of them laughed to each other with the familiarity that only comes with family. She smiled and looked over at Alexander who was still looking down at the floor.  
“You should have never hurt that girl.” She said, nudging him with her shoulder.  
“I didn’t hurt her that bad.” He said, trying to think of a good argument for his actions.  
“You did hurt her that bad and she didn’t deserve to be hurt at all you asshole.” Alexander shrugged, Maria rolled her eyes, he had never been good at admitting faults.   
They got to the door of their first period. Alex threw his hands into the air.  
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me” He said. Maria looked ahead to see what he was talking about, James was leaning on the frame of the door, well not just him, a girl was also leaning in the doorway and they were making out like they genuinely wanted to eat each others faces off. Maria huffed in frustration, why couldn’t he stand next to the door? She walked up to him.  
“Um, excuse me.” She said as politely as she could muster, holding her books close to her chest in an attempt to look as nice as possible. James looked up and smiled a big toothy grin at her.  
“You can cut in if you want to Mar, there’s enough of me to go around for you to get a taste.” Maria glared at him. Alex came up next to her, looking extremely upset.  
“Oh Alex, I’m sorry, I should have asked you first.” James said in feigned apology. Alex clenched his fists. He pushed past James and the girl and sat down at his desk, Maria followed him quietly putting her things down. James and the girl laughed, Maria started working on the question from the board and tried to tune out James’ voice talking about her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HATE when people make out in front of classrooms, I just want to go to class! I really wanted Eliza to be nice to everyone, but Alex because honestly he deserves a little bit of that. Don't worry though, it will all work out.   
> I've had such bad writers block with this, but I went through and changed some things I didn't like about the beginning of this fic and it made me feel a lot better about working on it more.  
> If anyone wants to know, I listened to Everything Under the Sun by Jukebox the Ghost when I wrote this. As always follow me on tumblr at sufjeringstevens if you want to ask me questions about the fic or just want to see my blog. No one has wanted to see my blog ever, I barely want to see my blog, but I thought I would put it out there.


End file.
